Comment by Grom_PE
8 years ago
If only I could properly reprogram this WP8.1 phone I have here, it would've been much more interesting.
But rooting/jailbreaking (in WP world called "Interop unlock") has always been awkward and possible only for the most popular types of WP: Lumia, Samsung.
To write programs, it requires me to install Windows 8 or 10 — can't do with Windows 7 or Linux.
Even if I write a program, this phone requires special developer unlocking online for "sideloading" two apps maximum at a time, another arbitrary awkward limitation which can be circumvented by shuffling around with an SD card: loading an app into phone, moving the app to SD, disconnecting the SD, loading another app and so on.
WP8.1 does have an ability to install an app from a file directly, but only if it is signed with special enterprise signature, and that isn't cheap.
Of browsers, only IE and IE-based browsers exist for WP, and that means no proper customization and of course no ad blocking.
So the platform looked quite hostile to me and I wasn't motivated to explore any further.
And then those MBA types are wondering why their "business strategy" is not working. The same applies to the Windows Store on Desktop. All that walled garden nonsense they are trying to impose is not going to work. The only thing I could seriously recommend to those clerks is to eat their neckties and finally become living human beings.
> All that walled garden nonsense they are trying to impose is not going to work
It seems to "work" for Apple, unfortunately. I can't see any business giving up on the prospect of having a 30% cut of everyone else's software ...
Not in the recent years. Apple Store on Mac suffered from a massive app makers exodus. App Store for mobile suffers from rampant freemium-ization. Don't forget about the heaps of legacy, no longer updated paid apps. Apple was able to sniff that smoke, so it made a lot of App Store improvements together with iPhone 8 release.
The joke on Windows Phone was always the browser. It was essentially a stripped down version of desktop IE. They never fixed it - the only Microsoft phone to ship with a usable browser (Edge) was Windows 10 Mobile, and they silently killed the whole Microsoft smartphone product line on the same day it was officially released.